Analysis: Record comeback puts Knights one win away from Stanley Cup Final

Tomas Hertl leapt into the endboards after backhanding home a third-period, go-ahead goal Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena and flew down the ice with a grin on his face to fistbump his teammates on the bench.

The celebration was one of the biggest of the Golden Knights’ playoff run so far this season — and it still probably wasn’t enough to fully capture the impact of Hertl’s score.

The veteran’s first goal of the Western Conference Final series against the Colorado Avalanche at 8:21 of the third period gave Vegas its first lead of the night and wound up the game-winner in the 5-3 victory.

The Golden Knights now hold a dominant 3-0 series lead over the Presidents' Trophy-winning Avalanche in the best-of-seven showdown. They can clinch a third trip to the Stanley Cup Final in nine years in Game 4 at 5 p.m. Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.

“We’re feeling great, top of the world to be here,” defenseman Kaedan Korczak said immediately after the game.

Hertl’s goal meant the Golden Knights overcame a three-goal deficit in the game, something the franchise had never previously pulled off in the playoffs.

Colorado looked like the historically efficient club it had been throughout the regular season to start the game. Desperate after falling into a 2-0 series hole and spurred by the return of former Conn Smythe and Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Cale Makar, the Avalanche got back to their preferred fast-paced attack.

Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog scored just more than three minutes into the game when punching in a second chance on a breakaway. Nazem Kadri roped in a stylish goal four minutes later off a behind-the-back pass from star Martin Necas.

Jack Drury scored a shorthanded goal before the end of the period right after a review upheld that an apparent Golden Knights score would not count after Pavel Dorofeyev was ruled to hit the puck in with his glove.  

“This is a game where we showed some balls,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said bluntly. “I want them to feel it for a little bit as far as what they just did against a really good hockey club.”

The early onslaught was evidence that there would be no neutralizing the Avalanche and holding them at bay in a low-scoring affair like the Golden Knights had done in two straight games to start the series at Ball Arena in Denver.

To beat Colorado in Game 3, Vegas was going to have to top the longtime Stanley Cup favorite at its own game.

The Golden Knights proved capable.    

“We never crater,” Hertl said. “We’ve come back so many times and even after the first, going down 3-0, we knew we could do it because we have so many great players.”

Vegas never panicked despite being in an unfamiliar, near-fatal territory against a juggernaut opponent. It started the second period on a power play, and captain Mark Stone — playing in his first game since suffering a lower-body injury in a Game 3 win over the Anaheim Ducks on May 8 — tapped in a goal in front of the net off a crafty pass from Mitch Marner.

Four minutes later, it was William Karlsson’s turn to finish off a sequence Marner started with a wrister from the left faceoff circle.

The goal was Karlsson’s first of the postseason, and first since an Oct. 26 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning after he missed most of the season with a lower-body injury.

“It was an explosion of emotions,” Karlsson said. “It was super fun to be able to score again.”

Hertl had also notably gone more than two months without scoring until getting a pair against the Ducks, and another prolonged drought ended on the goal before his breakthrough against the Avalanche.

Keegan Kolesar scored the game-tying goal in the second period Sunday when he redirected a slapshot from defenseman Dylan Coghlan.

Coghlan, the third-line defenseman who drew into the lineup last round, has now starred in two straight games but might have been overshadowed by his pairing partner on Sunday. Korczak, whom Coghlan initially replaced, had secondary assists on both Kolesar’s and Hertl’s goals in his second game back in the lineup.

“(Korczak’s) skating is such a strength of his against a really fast team, so high marks for him in stepping into the speed of this series,” Tortorella said. “And I thought Coghlan just made a great play on Tommy’s goal — not panicking with a puck when a lot of guys would have been flipping that out of the end zone, and then Korczy makes a great pass for a one-touch play. It’s really good (to have that depth) in this type of series.”

Colorado was supposed to have the depth advantage in the series, but Vegas has flipped the expectation.

And the Avalanche’s top-tier talent now appears compromised. Makar gave the Avalanche an early boost but wasn’t as much of a factor over the final two periods.

And then, in the second period, former Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon exited the game after blocking a slap shot from Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore with his knee.

MacKinnon took a couple of shifts afterwards but was clearly affected and could not finish the game.

He sat with a blank look on his face on the bench as Vegas’ Brett Howden scored an empty-netter in the final minute to seal the victory.

The Golden Knights are now on the precipice of a sweep no one ever saw coming, and they reached that point with an unprecedented performance behind unforeseen heroes.

“It’s a find-a-way league,” Tortorella said. “We found a way.”